How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he'd reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him. (1.1)
For all of the violence in this book, McCarthy opens it surprisingly tenderly. Some writers say the whole short story or novel should be present in the first paragraph. McCarthy goes one step further: here's the whole book in the first sentence. To sum up: It's dark and cold and nasty outside, but these characters love each other.
Quote #2
And then later in the darkness:
[The Boy:] Can I ask you something?
[The Man:] Yes. Of course you can.
[The Boy:] What would you do if I died?
[The Man:] If you died I would want to die too.
[The Boy:] So you could be with me?
[The Man:] Yes. So I could be with you.
[The Boy:] Okay. (11.16-11.22)
Earlier in the novel, The Woman criticizes The Man for using The Boy as a reason to live. ("The one thing I can tell you is that you wont survive for yourself" [93.22].) We think The Woman's approach is a little cynical. Isn't it a good thing that The Man wants to live in order to care for the boy? That he would die to be with The Boy? We're going out on a limb here, but we think The Road contains one of the most moving father-son relationships in all of American literature.
Quote #3
They squatted in the road and ate cold rice and cold beans that they'd cooked days ago. Already beginning to ferment. No place to make a fire that would not be seen. They slept huddled together in the rank quilts in the dark and the cold. He held the boy close to him. So thin. My heart, he said. My heart. But he knew that if he were a good father still it might well be as she had said. That the boy was all that stood between him and death. (44.1)
Frankly, we thing it's OK that The Boy is all that stands between The Man and death. We might question The Man a little more if he were to use The Boy as a protective shield, but he doesn't. He finds his purpose in The Boy. Don't people look for reasons to live all the time, and isn't another human being (your child) a very noble reason to live?
Quote #4
They lay listening. Can you do it? When the time comes? When the time comes there will be no time. Now is the time. Curse God and die. What if it doesnt fire? It has to fire. What if it doesnt fire? Could you crush that beloved skull with a rock? Is there such a being within you of which you know nothing? Can there be? Hold him in your arms. Just so. The soul is quick. Pull him toward you. Kiss him. Quickly. (172.1)
Oh dear. The Man asks himself if he can kill The Boy – to prevent others from harming him in worse ways – if and when "the time comes." McCarthy's language reaches a beautiful, sympathetic pitch here – "Hold him in your arms. Just so. The soul is quick." We also want to point out other famous conundrums of this sort, in which a father has to sacrifice what he most loves for a greater good. The biblical story of Abraham and Isaac comes to mind, in which God asks Abraham to kill his only son, then at the last minute says "just kidding." God and Jesus also come to mind.
Quote #5
He sat the boy on the footlocker under the gaslamp and with a plastic comb and a pair of scissors he set about cutting his hair. He tried to do a good job and it took some time. When he was done he took the towel from around the boy's shoulders and he scooped the golden hair from the floor and wiped the boy's face and shoulders with a damp cloth and held a mirror for him to see.
[The Boy:] You did a good job, Papa.
[The Man:] Good.
[The Boy:] I look really skinny.
[The Man:] You are really skinny.
He cut his own hair but it didnt come out so good. He trimmed his beard with the scissors while a pan of water heated and then he shaved himself with a plastic safety razor. The boy watched. When he was done he regarded himself in the mirror. He seemed to have no chin. He turned to the boy. How do I look? The boy cocked his head. I dont know, he said. Will you be cold? (225.1-225.6)
What does this passage have to do with love? Well, The Man does a better job cutting The Boy's hair than he does his own. You may respond: "OK. Whatever. The Man can actually see what he's doing when he cuts The Boy's hair." Fair enough. But isn't this "failure" part of love? That we care for others somehow better than we could ever care for ourselves?
Quote #6
He stopped. What happened to your flute?
[The Boy:] I threw it away.
[The Man:] You threw it away?
[The Boy:] Yes.
[The Man:] Okay.
[The Boy:] Okay. (231.54-231.59)
Earlier, The Man had carved The Boy this nifty flute. (McCarthy doesn't really describe the carving – he just mentions it.) It must have taken a long time – musical instruments aren't easy to make after all. So The Boy just goes and throws the flute away? Wouldn't you be angry and hurt? But The Man isn't – or doesn't seem to be – which only goes to show how much he loves The Boy. Didn't someone once say that love is patient?
Quote #7
He remembered waking once on such a night to the clatter of crabs in the pan where he'd left steakbones from the night before. Faint deep coals of driftwood fire pulsing in the onshore wind. Lying under such a myriad of stars. The sea's black horizon. He rose and walked out and stood barefoot in the sand and watched the pale surf appear all down the shore and roll and crash and darken again. When he went back to the fire he knelt and smoothed her hair as she slept and he said if he were God he would have made the world just so and no different. (303.1)
Almost all tender moments in The Road are between The Man and The Boy, but here's a sweet one between The Man and The Woman. It happens before the apocalypse. The two must be sleeping on the beach. The Man wakes up and looks into the night sky and watches the surf, then looks at his sleeping wife. He says to himself that he wouldn't have made the world any other way; this moment and this woman sleeping beside him are perfection. Now that's romantic!
Quote #8
He looked at the boy. See if you can find the first-aid kit, he said.
The boy didn't move.
[The Man:] Get the first-aid kit, damn it. Don't just sit there.
[. . .]
He took a clamp from the kit and caught the needle in the jaws and locked them and set about suturing the wound. He worked quickly and he took no great pains about it. The boy was crouching in the floor. He looked at him and he bent to the sutures again.
[. . .]
He ran the knot down the thread and pulled it taut and cut off the silk with the scissors from the kit and looked at the boy. The boy was looking at what he'd done.
[The Man:] I'm sorry I yelled at you.
He looked up. That's okay, Papa.
[The Man:] Let's start over.
[The Boy:] Okay. (365.1-365.13)
The Man has just been shot in the leg by an arrow. Imagine you've just been shot in the leg by an arrow and you say to your son, "Son, go see if you can find the first-aid kit in the garage. I think it's next to the bike pump." Your son just stares at you. Of course you would say to him: "Get the *&$% first-aid kit, Billy." You are, let's not forget, bleeding profusely from a wound. In this passage, however, after The Man stitches his own wound (ouch!), he apologizes to The Boy. He says, "Let's start over." Put this in the parenting book, because this is how love is done.
Quote #9
[The Boy:] You're going to be okay, Papa. You have to.
[The Man:] No I'm not.
[. . .]
[The Boy:] Just take me with you.
[The Man:] I cant.
[The Boy:] Please, Papa.
[The Man:] I cant. I cant hold my son dead in my arms. I thought I could but I cant.
[The Boy:] You said you wouldnt ever leave me.
[The Man:] I know. I'm sorry. You have my whole heart. You always did. You're the best guy. You always were. If I'm not here you can still talk to me. You can talk to me and I'll talk to you. You'll see. (381.4-381.21)
One of the things that makes the relationship between The Man and The Boy so moving is that the dialogue is convincing. It's not hard to imagine a father saying to his young son, "You're the best guy." Fathers say this cute stuff all the time, even without gangs of cannibals forcing them to be nice to their kids. But something else makes this touching. It's that The Man really means what he says. The Boy does serve as a moral compass for the two road-weary travelers. He is the best guy.
Quote #10
He walked back into the woods and knelt beside his father. He was wrapped in a blanket as the man had promised and the boy didnt uncover him but he sat beside him and he was crying and he couldnt stop. He cried for a long time. I'll talk to you every day, he whispered. And I wont forget. No matter what. Then he rose and turned and walked back out to the road. (388.12)
Earlier in The Road, The Man unceremoniously steals a blanket from a corpse (125.2). The fact that he doesn't think twice about it shows us what sort of world we're in. Here The Boy leaves his dead father wrapped in a blanket. It's a subtle and sweet touch from McCarthy.